And you thought the lions were bad
by mischievousravenclaw
Summary: Remus's undercover job among Fenrir's pack costed him everything he held dear and, maybe, a lot more.


The desperate wail of a woman lighted up the dark night. The moon, which was nothing but a dull, though big circle before, flashed with a dazzling light. He took a deep breath and opened his eyes. It was an unclear, misty morning and he was lying on an endless rug of autumn leaves with nothing, but moist fogg around him, he could feel his body covered in dried blood – that was not new, he would always hurt himself during these nights. My name is Remus Lupin, I am in a world of shit, he thought simply. He rose, discovering that one of his trainers had gone missing, but satisfied with the comprehension that it was the only thing he had lost this night. Could have been much worse. Could have been a leg. Could even have been life.

As always, the events of the full-moon had vanished as soon as he completely woke up. He wandered into the unwelcoming mist, still sleepy but not thinking even subconsciously of the screaming woman he'd heard a couple hours before. Stumbling and yawning, he spent the next hour or so trying to walk out of the forest.

He heard the sound of a motorway and hurried up towards it, though the haze was as yet preventing him from being able to walk a straight line, without running into a tree. He was moving in a knotty path, which led him to a massive slope, cut by an arch with a rather shallow stream of dirty water coming from it. The motorway was to the right of him, down the hill, and he went down, content with the thought of getting away from this place as soon as he comes by the first sign and realizes, where on earth is he. There was, of course, a big question considering which way he should go from here: the Order's Headquarters, his house (or, to be more accurate, his hovel) or back to Fenrir's pack location. He kept these thoughts off though his inner voice was shouting something about responsibility and how Dumbledore trusted him with such an important job, and how he had to get back to the werewolf camp, so that Greyback would not have doubt in him.

Nonsense. The job was not that important – the werewolves were only talking about siding with the Dark Lord. He probably would not want them at all – all these pureblood maniacs generally have a prejudice against his kind. Greyback was a moron, all his 'followers' were. Come what may, it will not be hard to fool them – a bunch of illiterate folks, who went along with a man that called himself 'the master of the moon'. Above all, he needed to be alone after an exhausting month among these ferals.

He had reached the wide road, and turned away to catch the last glimpse of the forest that sheltered him this time. His eyes stumbled over a bright spot, laying in the muddy water at the arch's basis – he could not see exactly what it was as his eyes were still unclear from the lack of sleep. He looked back at the road, but something about the sight he'd just seen bothered him. 'It will only take a couple of minutes anyway,' he convinced himself.

After about ten steps towards the arch the spot started taking discernible outlines: at first he recognized that there were two spots, moved closer and felt the blood freezing in his veins. It was a female body torn in two. Remus swallowed hard, closed his eyelids for a second, took another breath and walked closer. He could not see the face of the dead woman ahead of him as the upper part of the body was faced down, but what he could see was a shock of blond hair, a pair of blue wooden shoes and a pair of azure bracelets on the left hand – and that was enough for an exact guess to him. He reached for the body, turned it upside and stared at the face of his fellow Prefect from Hogwarts years. Marlene McKinnon was a proud Ravenclaw to the bone.

He'd spent God knows how standing there, his hands pressed to his mouth. He felt like vomiting and screaming at the same time – just to let the pain out. The only thought that crossed his mind was the memory of the Potter's wedding, where he'd seen Marlene for the last time and the fact that she'd been wearing the same shoes and how she'd complained about their inconvenience. Now Marlene's face, ruined with a scar, which stretched from the left part of her forehead to the chin, was staring at the skies, her empty eyes matching the color of her bracelets.

The type of her wounds and the way that her body was severed led to no mistake. It was a job of a werewolf – or of a whole bunch. He shivered, realizing the draining blood again and finally barfed in the mud. This was the moment he feared from that sinister night when he'd first met Fenrir Greyback. The very thought of this had chased every nightmare every night since. He got so used to this anxiety he'd come to terms with it and gone along without even noticing it, the gaping hole inside his chest, that had always been ready to swallow him in a blink of an eye.

He always dreaded this moment, and now he had no idea about what he was about to do. How do you plan an accidental murder? He shook at the thought and tried his best to focus on the events of the past night. The last thing he could remember was a man called Travers coming to Greyback's camp. Remus remembered noticing that Travers did not look the part of a hopeless werewolf – his clothes of an expensive fabric with silver brooch… what shape was the brooch? He could not recall neither this part, nor Travers's face – it seemed like there was a Confudus charm placed on him. It was only an illusion of course – none of the werewolves were strong enough to produce the charm, and why would he want to hide his appearance, while revealing his name? One thing you learn at the camp was not asking questions. The lycanthropy was nothing but a terrible lottery – could've bitten a short time ago, could've still had some savings.

Breathe in, breathe out. His next actions were reckless – he bonded the body parts with a spell as if trying to undo his crime, lifted Marlene and walked into the darkness of the arch. A couple minutes later he run out of it and kept running ahead, until he approached the motorway. The first sign he came across read 'Litton', and it made sense. Back in Hogwarts Marlene had often invited half of their year to her family house here, but Lily happened to be the only one, who even once accepted the offer – she changed her mind on the last day. Remus took a deep breath and apparated back to the Order's Headquarters, not being sure what he was going to tell them.


End file.
